Ambition
by flyin'rabbit
Summary: Lucius Malfoy is, once again, the subject of all the gossip at Hogwarts. What he's done? Gotten engaged to Narcissa Black, that's what.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything

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Making my way through the halls of the school, I could hear hushed voices following me as I went. Smirking to myself, I realised that I had managed it again. Once more, the entire Hogwarts population was in awe because of me. Me, Lucius Malfoy. Me, the soon-to-be husband of Narcissa Black.

It was right after the Easter holidays in our seventh year, both Narcissa's and mine. During that holiday, the marriage had been arranged. It might be called a miracle that we hadn't been betrothed earlier, but of course, the Black family had had enough going on with Narcissa's sister running off with some Mudblood. That was a miracle in itself, for I knew that the Black sisters had been brought up as perfect Pureblood-daughters in every single way.

Narcissa was all that, of course. Having been brought up with the prospect of an arranged marriage, she had absolutely no problem with it when our parents announced that we were engaged from that moment on. If she would have had a problem with it, the engagement might have been cancelled again; it was an arranged, not a forced marriage. But I think we could both see that bringing our two families, the Malfoys and the Blacks, closer together, was almost necessary. Especially in a time where Mudbloods, Muggle-lovers and blood-traitors were starting to rule the entire wizarding world.

I myself had been brought up too with the knowledge that one day, I would have to marry a Pureblood heiress. That was how it had always been in our family. That was how it would be in the next few generations, if I had anything to say about it.

Finally reaching my destination, the Slytherin common room, I was met with more hushed voices – this time, those of my wife-to-be and one of her friends, Ursula Greengrass. I made my way over to them and gracefully sat down next to Narcissa. Ursula looked between the two of us with an approving look in her eyes. I bet she was boiling on the inside, dying to say something, but she held her tongue. Ursula, too, was raised to be a perfect Pureblood daughter and thus she knew what was and was not appropriate in situations like this. She nodded at us once and quickly left.

Narcissa smiled at me. "Everyone is very happy with the news," she announced.

"Is that so? Everyone, you say?" My question made her frown a little – she still looked beautiful when she did this.

"Well – yes. I even had a letter from Andromeda today – " I cringed at the mention of her sister. She had been burned off their family tree the moment she got married to that Mudblood. Narcissa was the only one who occasionally got mail from her, but she had assured me that she never, absolutely never, wrote back. "And she said that as long as I was happy, she was happy for me. Oh, did you know she's six months pregnant?"

"Pregnant?!" I spluttered. "Your sister is pregnant? She's having that Mudblood's child?" I could only gape at Narcissa after this. She nodded, her frown back on her face.

"That was my first reaction as well. I burnt the letter already, and I'm not replying. She really is putting the Black family name to shame."

"We seem to be _the_ talk of the day here at Hogwarts," I commented, trying to subtly change the subject. Narcissa didn't fall for that, sadly enough.

"You don't care what everybody here thinks, Lucius," she told me. She knew me too well. Of course, we had only been engaged for about a week, but we had known each other for the biggest part of our lives. That's what coming from two important wizarding families does to you.

"Yes, well, I just don't like talking about your sister," I admitted, though of course she knew that already. "But I agree with you, she's putting your entire family to shame."

Narcissa nodded absent-mindedly. Before we could talk more, a bunch of people entered the common room, making too much noise for us to converse. When Narcissa announced that she needed to talk to Ursula about something again, I decided to go for a walk.

I hadn't gotten very far before I suddenly found myself covered in vanilla pudding. I knew that, being the heir of a respectable Pureblood family, I should be in control of both my temper and the situation, and me being the Head Boy, increased that necessity. At this moment, however, I wasn't so sure if I could control myself.

My eyes flew through the deserted hallway. Deserted, yeah right. With one swish of my wand, I was clean (_amateurs_, I thought), and with another, I detected one living being in the hallway with me. Soon enough, a thump was heard as the perpetrator apparently lost his balance and fell to the cold floor. I made my way over and found myself frowning over my attacker.

If Andromeda Black was an abomination for the Noble House of the Black's, her and Narcissa's cousin Sirius Black was many times worse. Not only had he not been Sorted into Slytherin, but into Gryffindor (I couldn't help but (still) shiver at the thought; I felt bad for his mother, his entire family; fortunately, Regulus, Sirius' younger brother, didn't appear to have any interest in following into his brother's dirty footsteps), but he was also the best of friends with Blood traitors and non-Purebloods. He and his friends loved to terrorise the school with their childish pranks, even though I made sure to give them a detention every time I caught them.

This twelve year old boy had thought he could mess with me, Lucius Malfoy, over five years older than him, and many times more powerful? "Get up, Black," I sneered at him. "Do you have anything to say for your sorry little self before I'll give you another detention?"

The boy struggled while trying to get up (if only his admirers and so called friends could see him now) and gave me a look of pure hatred, which I gladly returned. "You deserved all of that," he hissed venomously. I knew there had to be some Slytherin genes left inside him, and here they were, directed at me, resident King of Slytherin (it was not my own idea to be called that, if you might wonder). Oh, the irony.

I arched an eyebrow at him. "Though I'm _dying_ to know why you think that, I'd rather not have my air polluted by you any longer, Black. I'll tell the Head of your House what happened and make sure you won't get out of detention before this year ends." With that, I turned at my spot and made my way back to the common room. That stupid brat had ruined my good mood and I wanted, needed, had to have that fixed.

The common room, however, was as deserted as the hallway I had been in minutes earlier. Only here, there wouldn't be an annoying twelve year old brat hiding behind couches or anything. Laying down on a couch, I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep. I always felt better after naps, even if I slept for only ten minutes. Today didn't seem to be my lucky day and I had to force myself not to think of any of the people here at Hogwarts. For the biggest part (everyone who wasn't a Slytherin sixth or seventh year), they were insignificant to me in every way possible. They weren't going to help me get to the top of the wizarding world. A marriage to Narcissa would help me greatly with that, and of course, I shouldn't forget my own ancestors. All noble and important men who had helped the wizarding world become so well-organised as it was today. So it was in my blood to be this ambitious, I figured.

Oh, and I had more than enough connections with people in the Ministry, so finding a job there shouldn't be tough. Finding the right and perfect job, that was another story. I would have to watch out, or I'd make a choice that would devastate any chance at getting the perfect career. My father had already told me he would help me find something. I wasn't so sure if I should be happy with that. Of course, it would guard me from making wrong choices, but I was also sure that I would be perfectly capable of finding work myself. My father didn't want our family name to be tarnished. I was determined to not let that happen.

After all, I had agreed to marry a Pureblood heiress I might have not even known. The fact that it turned out to be Narcissa was sheer luck. It could have been someone from the other side of the globe. And in Narcissa's case, I wasn't just marrying her because she happened to be from a powerful, rich, influential, well-connected family. I could talk to her in a way I couldn't talk to many people; she understood where I came from, because she came from practically the same place; she agreed with all my views; and last, but not least, of course, there was the fact that she was, in many people's eyes, the most beautiful young woman here at school. So naturally, people would gossip about her and me being engaged.

As I finally felt drowsiness coming over me, I smiled to myself. Life was good; I was now engaged to the right girl, I was close to finishing my schooling, and thus, I would soon be entering the real world, where I was sure to become very successful. No matter what I would have to do for it. I could finally go my own way and no one was going to stop me.

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**A/N**: So, what do you think? If you have anything to say about it (really, anything at all), and even if you don't, please review!


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